Chapter 318: Shan Shitou Wants to Stay

The scenery is generally not bad where there are mountains and water.

The Killer Lake looks like an emerald mirror when it is calm, and as smooth as silk when the breeze starts.

The blue mountain is dressed in dark green and surrounded by pure white clouds.

Add to that the scent of grass and wild flowers that is occasionally carried by the gentle breeze.

Kaer Morhen is beautiful in the summer, especially for witchers who have very keen senses.

The only thing that is a bit regrettable is the water ghost with a unique fishy smell.

Arryn had thought that these disgusting monsters would gradually become extinct in Kaer Morhen because of the massacre committed by Lady Vera and the large-scale hunting brought about by the water ghost's heart essence.

However, he didn't expect that he still underestimated the value of the largest group of monsters in the demon hunter world.

By the lake, stream, pond or even a small puddle.

In summer, water ghosts grow wildly like weeds. They can always be seen in the vaporous places in the mountains. Because of the rising temperature, they are even more active than in winter.

The noise of "clack clack" is very annoying.

Although he tried to avoid them whenever possible, Ailin still killed fourteen more.

If the attributes had not been improved now, perhaps this number could have increased ten or twenty times.

"The mountain trial is held in winter, which reduces the difficulty for the apprentices." Ailin shook his head helplessly.

He turned his wrist and made a sword flower, wiped off the blood stains that might have been on the sword, and put the sword back into the sheath.

Then collect all the materials for the water ghost and put them into the material bag.

Even though we are rich now, we still cannot waste materials that can be avoided.

"Ding!"

[Monster Group "Water Ghost" Lv11 Subjugation! ]

[Rewards settlement: …]

【Final rating: F】

[Obtained loot: None]

Yes.

Now, Ailin's evaluation for hunting water ghosts alone is basically F, and he gets nothing.

The only thing that Demon Hunter's Notes still has some conscience is that although F's evaluation does not even reward the essence of the water ghost's heart, it also will not remove the water ghost's heart.

It just requires Ailin to go and get it himself.

correct.

Since all of Ailin's attributes have been raised to above 50 and he has acquired the Way of the Beast Roar, the last evaluation column on the character panel has changed from "New Demon Hunter" to "Demon Hunter".

The permissions you have have also changed a little.

just now.

Even if the final rating of the monster subjugation is above E level, Ailin can choose whether to retain the key parts of the monster, such as the heart, etc. when calculating the rewards.

This function or permission is actually quite practical in most cases.

Firstly, it can avoid exposing yourself in certain situations where there are outsiders.

On the other hand, the commission for extracting heart essence from the Demon Hunting Notes is too high.

For example, the heart essence of water ghosts and ghouls can be refined into five essences from one heart, but the reward for defeating the Demon Hunting Notes is only one.

It doesn't matter if it's just common monsters like water ghosts or ghouls, but if one day I can get the formula of the heart essence of the Water Ghost King or the Giant Swamp Fairy.

If Demon Hunting Notes still forced us to withdraw money at that time, it would be a huge loss.

of course.

After collecting the materials, Ailin deliberately opened the crusade record on the panel, of course not to read F's evaluation.

"Level 11..." The demon hunter pondered, "I remember that in winter, the average level of no group of water ghosts exceeded level . The strength of the monsters is indeed increasing..."

He was still a little uncertain when hunting water ghosts in front of his apprentices.

Along the way, we have encountered five groups of water ghosts, three of which are over level ten.

Although the average level only increased by two or three levels, the improvement in combat power was not significant, but this also proved that Ailin's previous conjecture was not wrong.

The strength of monsters, or at least water ghosts, is really increasing.

"Boom~"

A faint sound suddenly came from the front of the mountain path, interrupting the witcher.

The ground seemed to be shaking slightly.

"Is there a fight?" Ailin immediately became alert, pulled out Elsa, and looked intently.

The winding mountain path is hidden by cliffs and lush green forests.

"Isn't that the direction of Dashitou's camp?"

"not good!"

The demon hunter, who had figured out the direction, immediately quickened his pace and trotted towards the direction where the sound came from.

"Rumble~"

The closer they got, the louder the battle became.

The ground shook and the trees swayed.

"What happened?" The demon hunter frowned. "Old Spearhead is already dead. Is there any monster that can threaten nearly twenty rock trolls?"

"What's more, there are super-sized monsters like the mountain stone..."

Think so.

Ailin's expression became more serious.

He opened the reagent bag and adjusted the Giant Ghoul Decoction and Blizzard to the most suitable positions for use.

"Da da da~"

The footsteps were swift.

Countless trees trembled and flashed by on both sides, and then their branches were swayed by the strong wind brought by the witcher.

"Please don't let anything go wrong!" Ailin thought.

It's okay for the rocks and stones.

He still likes the simple rock trolls Big Stone, Broken Stone and Little Stone.

"Boom~"

The rumbling sounds were getting louder and louder, and the battle seemed to be getting more intense.

However, Ailin gradually felt that something was wrong.

"This noise... doesn't seem like a battle..."

Gradually slow down.

The huge rumbling noise seemed to be mixed with roars.

When Ailin got closer and heard the content of the roar clearly, he stopped with a strange expression.

"...rocks...gluttons...a bunch of gluttons..."

"...big guy...trash...can't find food...blue skin...tastes bad..."

"... the bad witch... brought rocks... small stones... starved for a week...

"... glutton... glutton... glutton..."

……

At this time.

Ailin also turned the familiar corner and finally saw what the roar that sounded like a fierce battle was.

In a familiar camp.

A large group of rock trolls gathered together...

Do not!
To be precise, it was a group of about a dozen rock trolls, who were forced to stagger back step by step by a familiar figure.

"dong dong dong~"

"Rumble~"

The "dong" sound came from the rock trolls of various sizes, all of which were familiar faces seen in Viscount Hudson's abandoned mine.

"Long" is a rock that looks like a hill.

They were forced into a corner step by step by the roaring big rock, which was much smaller than them.

not far away.

The bloody corpses of two or three water ghosts lay behind them.

A little further.

Broken rocks and small stones hid in the corners of the camp.

Ailin was so far away that it was rare for him to see any gloating in Broken Stone's pea-sized eyes.

Little Stone hugged the thick thighs and kept shouting.

"...Big Stone...hungry...Big Stone...hungry..."

It's like fanning the flames.

"...Big rock...Mountain rock is hungry too...The big guys are hungry too..." The Mountain rock, which was forced into a corner by the big rock, hung its head and spoke humbly under the pleading gaze of the other rock trolls.

"The mountains are not as good as the underground... there are only blue skins... it's hard to catch... the big guys tried their best!"

The sentence was finished in a halting manner.

The other rock trolls gathered together and nodded foolishly, indicating that they had indeed tried their best.

Ailin narrowed his eyes and found that many of the rock trolls were much thinner than when he first met them.

The size of big rocks and broken stones has also become much smaller.

It seems that after Ms. Vera moved the group of rock trolls from Shanshi here, none of the trolls have been able to eat well in the past two months.

but.

He remembered telling Ms. Wei to give these rock trolls some rotten meat every week.

This was what he had promised Shan Shitou before.

Could it be that Vera forgot?
Aylin was a little confused.

of course.

At that time, Soyi was being targeted by the king and was being plotted against.

It's not surprising that the sorceress forgot about this.

After thinking about it, Ailin was about to unload the remaining rotten meat in the inventory.

At this time.

"...Big Rock doesn't care...if there's food...stay...if there's no food...go!"

The big rock roared.

Shantou looked dejectedly at the rock trolls around him and walked out, as if he really wanted to leave.

Ailin was shocked.

He had managed to persuade these trolls to come to Kaer Morhen with great difficulty, but he couldn't just let the big rock drive away Kaer Morhen's trump card.

Not caring about the quantity, Ailin simply unloaded the rotten meat in his backpack as he walked. He only stopped and coughed lightly when he was close enough to the rock troll.

The rock trolls immediately looked in his direction warily.

"...Good witcher..."

"...Big rock...Friend..."

"...meat...meat...meat..."

Broken Stone, Big Stone and Small Stone were the first to recognize Ailin.

Mountain Stone and the other rock trolls made a commotion, then seemed to recognize it.

However, to Ailin's surprise, the rock did not rush up and accuse him of not fulfilling his promise. Instead, it threw its heavy head to the other side.

"Is he having a bad temper?" The witcher was a little surprised by such a humane behavior.

I greeted the big rocks, broken rocks and small rocks that came towards me and asked some more questions.

really.

The rotten meat that Ailin had promised was indeed not delivered, but it was not that it was not delivered from the beginning to the end. It was that the delivery suddenly stopped after about a month.

This seems a little strange.

However, this matter is not urgent. Just ask when you return to Kaer Morhen and you will know the answer.

So Arlin continued to ask Big Stone why they didn't go to Kaer Morhen to ask for it.

Shan Shitou may not know where the Gu Hai Fortress is, but Da Shitou and his friends had just been there once at the beginning of the year, so it’s impossible for them not to know it.

"... trolls... work... exchange... food..." The big stone glanced at the mountain stone, as if extremely disdainful, and then said, "... begging... trolls... shameful..."

This kind of conversation seemed to have happened many times. Shan Shitou did not argue fiercely. He said in a muffled voice, "...it's not begging...", then glanced at Ailin and turned his head away again.

Hearing this, Ailin looked towards the big rock in surprise.

"Is it because of 'self-esteem' that you didn't go to the Ancient Sea Fortress?"

After thinking about it, at the beginning of the year, every time I came to deliver carrion, Dashitou would indeed give back some gifts.

Looking at the big stone in front of him with the same small eyes as other rock trolls, Ailin became more and more curious.

He is so "well-educated and well-mannered", and has a "relative" like Shanshitou, who is obviously an outlier among the rock trolls. He can suppress so many more powerful rock trolls...

What is the origin of the big stone?
But once you become familiar with this, you will always know it.

After talking to the big stone for a few more words, Ailin walked up to the stone, looked up and apologized:

"I'm sorry, Shan Shitou. I don't know what went wrong, but it's true that I didn't keep my promise..."

Shan Shitou didn't look back.

Are you still angry? Ailin smiled, and after sighing in his heart about the peculiarities of the rock trolls, he pointed behind him and said:

"I brought some rotten meat as compensation. I was wrong this time. Can you forgive me?"

exactly.

As soon as Ailin finished speaking, the wind direction in the mountains suddenly changed.

A unique fishy and rotten smell of rotten meat wafted from the mountain path behind me.

of course.

For rock trolls, it's the scent.

“…meat…meat…meat…” The one who reacted the most was Xiao Shitou.

With drool dripping from the corners of his mouth, he stared behind Ailin with his small eyes wide open.

The other rock trolls concealed a commotion, and many of them rubbed the rough backs of the rocks against the stone's feet.

"Gurgle, grunt~"

A loud bang sounded about one meter above the witcher's head.

There is the white-brown belly of the rock.

"...Okay... Shanshitou forgives you..." Shanshitou scratched his belly and nodded foolishly.

Then he raised his hand, and the hungry rock trolls swarmed out and pounced behind Arryn.

"...big stones...broken stones...small stones...eat too!" The mountain stone's small eyes looked at the big stone flatteringly, like a puppy who had just knocked over his owner's bowl and begged for forgiveness.

Unexpectedly, the big stone did not appreciate it, and two heavy slaps stopped the restless broken stones and small stones.

"...Big Stone...Broken Stone...Small Stone...No..." Ignoring the Broken Stone and Small Stone whose mouths were drooling like a river, the Big Stone refused, "...Mountain Stone...Begging...It's a disgrace to the troll..."

When Ailin heard this, he stepped forward and defended Shan Shitou, saying, "This is something we agreed on before."

Shanshitou nodded repeatedly.

"...mountain stones...exchange...jobs?" Big Stone shook his head.

Shanshitou paused and looked at the demon hunter: "... Shanshitou... we have nothing... to exchange..."

Ailin understood what Dashi meant, and couldn't help but secretly praise Dashi for his assist. He said:

"The mountain stones can help us protect the castle..."

The words are not finished yet.

Shan Shitou's eyes suddenly lit up and he nodded repeatedly:

"…rocks are strong…big guys are strong…protecting friends' stone houses…"

Then he looked at the big stone pleadingly: "...Shan Shitou... has a job..."

"...can't find food...trolls...leave..." Big Stone thought about it and shook his head.

When Shan Shitou heard this, his expression suddenly changed. He leaned forward with his huge body, pointed at the water ghost on the ground and argued:

"... trolls found food... blue skin..."

"...blue skin...unpalatable...big guys won't eat it..." Big Stone interrupted.

Shan Shitou paused for a moment and subconsciously looked at Ailin.

This was because he was disgusted with the trolls under Shan Shitou's command. They couldn't find edible food, so even though there was a job and he was a food source, he refused to let them stay...

Ailin understood.

In fact, his goal had been achieved at this time.

The mountain stone has now accepted the request to exchange its force for carrion. It doesn't matter even if it doesn't live with the big stones. Old Spearhead's cave is also a good place.

But it is definitely more convenient to get together.

And looking at the look in Dashitou's eyes now, if he could find a way to get Dashitou to keep him, his favorability would definitely increase greatly.

only……

Under Shan Shitou's expectant gaze, Ailin sighed helplessly in his heart.

How could he teach a group of rock trolls, who were used to living underground, to catch animals other than water ghosts?
He didn't even know how the big rocks restrained their magical aura and hunted without alerting their prey.

I can only put...

and many more!

An idea suddenly occurred to Ailin.

"I think... I actually have a solution..."

(End of this chapter)